Engage Disciplinarily and Interdisciplinarily

Through class discussions and writing activities, students will be able to demonstrate a fluency in the disciplinary trends of American Studies, an understanding of the field’s inherent interdisciplinarity, and an ability to draw upon knowledge that they have acquired in courses taken in other disciplines.

Engage Disciplinarily and Interdisciplinarily

Through class discussions and writing activities, students will be able to demonstrate a fluency in the disciplinary trends of American Studies, an understanding of the field's inherent interdisciplinarity, and an ability to draw upon knowledge that they have acquired in courses taken in other disciplines.

Analyze Rigorously

Students will be able to demonstrate high proficiency in reading critically and analyzing primary historical, secondary historical, theoretical, and critical texts. Students will exhibit this high proficiency through engaging in the methods central to the field of American Studies: textual analysis, archive building, institutional contextualization, and theorizing.

Analyze Rigorously

Students will be able to demonstrate high proficiency in reading critically and analyzing primary historical, secondary historical, theoretical, and critical texts. Students will exhibit this high proficiency through engaging in the methods central to the field of American Studies: textual analysis, archive building, institutional contextualization, and theorizing.

Communicate Persuasively

Capstone participants will be able to formulate both their oral and written arguments coherently, support them clearly, and communicate them effectively to their audiences using correct conventions of language, style, and the best practices of the discipline.

Work Independently

Students will be able to develop their own research project (formulate a sophisticated research question, independently conduct primary and secondary research, and employ the writing skills they have developed over the course of the major) in order to write an original 15–20 page research paper in the last third of the course.

Communicate Persuasively

Capstone participants will be able to formulate both their oral and written arguments coherently, support them clearly, and communicate them effectively to their audiences using correct conventions of language, style, and the best practices of the discipline.

Work Independently

Students will be able to develop their own research project (formulate a sophisticated research question, independently conduct primary and secondary research, and employ the writing skills they have developed over the course of the major) in order to write an original 15–20 page research paper in the last third of the course.